Thanks to YOU, my amazing fans, friends and supporters, I’ve been voted Entertainer of the Year by Campus Activities Magazine AND Magician of the Year by APCA!

Entertainer of the Year

I was voted “Entertainer of the Year” by the readers of Campus Activities Magazine! As you can imagine, this is an unbelievable honor for me. After having been nominated for the last 3 years, it’s a huge thrill.

Read the Official Press Release Here

To be recognized in your field is something that always feels good. I’m humbled and honored to receive the title of “Entertainer of the Year” and will do my best to keep putting on the best shows I possibly can to truly earn the title. I was “real-life-share-a-drink-with” friends with all 4 of the other nominees in this category and they’re all amazing, top-notch entertainers. Adam Grabowski is a guy who is taking the college market by storm with his comedy, funny charts and observations about 90s life. Daniel Martin is someone I’m proud to call a friend and someone with whom I regularly workshop new ideas. His “making an audience member disappear bit is one of the most clever “I wish I had thought of that” things out there. Peter Boie is a magician who has a thing in his show with a harmonica that I have never figured out — and never want to. It’s a magical experience to see him perform. Matt Corey convinced me that the saxophone can actually be exciting and fun to watch (not to mention, he’s a fellow Ohioan)! I’d also like to say CONGRATS to all of the winners in other categories!

Magician of the Year

In other exciting news, I recently attended the National Conference for the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities in Atlanta, GA, where I was given the “2014 Magician of the Year” Award! The title is determined by votes cast through ballots given to Student Activities Groups in colleges throughout the country. I was genuinely surprised to be notified about this award!

Click to watch a video of Michael accepting his award!

Being recognized by your peers is always a wonderful feeling, and I smiled the whole way home from Atlanta. So thank you for the honor! The beautiful trophy I was given will be placed in my office display case next to other proud mementos that serve as reminders that I really am working in my dream job.

Thank you so much to:

The APCA Administrators, Staff and Volunteers,

All of the Student Activities Advisors/Directors and students who have enjoyed what I do,

Entertainer friends with whom I regularly consult for improvement and ideas
and of course,

I’ve got a preliminary list of some of the first 2014 Fall College Tour dates that have been posted. Do you live in or near one of these cities? Have you simply been to any of these cities and have a fun memory or story? If you have a suggestion of something I should try, see or do, please let me know in the comments below!

Here Come the Car Selfies.

I’ll be constantly updating social media followers throughout the tour on my twitter and facebook. And check my Instagram to look out for tons of videos, audience and venue photos, general thoughts and car selfies. Lots of car selfies.

Check out some of the Fall 2013 Tour Dates! This isn’t a complete list – additional dates are still being added. It looks like when all is said and done, this tour will bring me to around 40-42 cities in something like 18 different states! There are a few days off in between some of the shows, so I’ll be visiting some touristy things like Niagara Falls and Disney World. But most of what I’ll be seeing is small-town America. I want to see all the interesting things there are to see in these small towns. Is there a city near you on the tour? Let me know what I should check out!

I’ll be constantly updating social media followers throughout the tour on my twitter and facebook.

The 2012 Winter/Spring Tour is off to a wintery start! We had to reschedule the first college campus of the year (see below) and almost had to reschedule a second one! Nonetheless, things are really clicking with the show. I sincerely hope you have the opportunity to get to one of the shows on the tour soon! See the below list of shows on the schedule to see if I’ll be in a city near you and keep checking back for updates!

These “year-in-review” posts sometimes feel somewhat obligatory, but in this case, 2011 was an incredible year and as I look back, I’m overwhelmed with topics to write about.

Here are some standout memories:

2011 was a record year for me as far as the college tour goes. Somanygreatmemories. I performed in morecollegesthanever this year. While it was hard on my body and mind at times, I got through it with the help of friends, loved ones and amazing audiences.

Did some great TV with ABC6/FOX28 Columbus’s Johnny DiLoretto – some of my first experience with LIVE television. I learned that live TV can be a very difficult thing – Johnny handles it like a pro. When it goes well, it’s exhilarating!

I began my commercial acting career in 2011, and worked on commercials and industrials for Intel, Ohio Lottery, Kemba Financial and a few others!

In 2011, I offered an original creation as my first release to the magic community. repAIR is a Popped and Restored Balloon effect that has never been seen before in the history of magic. It was met with favorable reviews and has sold really well so far.The Free Beer Tour* was an event that I put together with Corey Montie where I toured local bars and taught attendees bar bets that they could use to scam their friends out of free drinks.

The Kardashians will become irrelevant. Until one of them does something stupid that acts like catnip for humans and makes television gossip shows go apeshit crazy. The American Public will be thrown into an uproar and they will get government involved, who will use new National Defense Legislation to hold the Kardashians in an undisclosed location. This will launch the Kardashians into a new Reality (ever wonder why reality shows hire writers?) show called “The Kardashians Appeal to Congress.”

Apple will come out with a product that you never knew you needed. By next December, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

McDonalds will work with Paula Dean to introduce a new product called “McFatass.”

A Republican presidential candidate will say something stupid.

A group of people with Mayan ancestry will finally reveal the secret “Part 2″ of the calendar they’ve been hiding.

Playboy will offer $50M to Betty White to pose nude. She will accept.

An asteroid will come so close to the Earth that TV News networks will actually be forced to report actual news. The Huffington Post will bump their previous lead-story about what Whoopie said yesterday on The View.

Someone will ask me If I can make them disappear.

You will receive a bad haircut.

Betty White’s Playboy spread will launch her into a career in pornography, shocking everyone who thought the first Golden Girl to do porn would be Rue McClanahan.

The Presidential race will end in chaos when Major News networks announce that the candidate with the most electoral votes was Exxon Mobil.

You will fall in love.

For me, I can already tell that 2012 has some exciting things coming. Two of them I can’t talk about quite yet, but soon! If you get on my mailing list by entering your email address above or clicking here, I guarantee you’ll hear about them! As always, I usually tweet about things as they happen! I hope everyone has had an amazing Holiday Season. Have a wonderful and fun-filled New Years Eve. Make sure you kiss your loved one and hold them tight. If you don’t have a loved one, grab the person next to you and smooch. The memory of the kiss will long outlast the bruise you’ll receive from his or her significant other.

The grateful magician acknowledges and recognizes the magicians that have come before him or her that have allowed the new presentations, methods, ideas and effects to flourish.

The grateful magician thanks his or her audiences for allowing themselves to be entertained by a complete stranger.

The grateful magician understands that people have many things to do. Watching a magic show doesn’t have to be one of them. They have made a choice to watch. And for that, a magician should be grateful.

The grateful magician thanks those in charge of hiring him or her and treats them with nothing but humble respect. A grateful magician is not a diva.

The grateful magician supports those who create magic and pays for books, videos and effects rather than pirating and sharing them.

The grateful magician does not refuse to perform when asked.

The grateful magician realizes the sacrifice and dedication to those who work in theater, sound & lighting, booking, tech, crew, advertising and other behind-the-scenes roles and thanks them accordingly.

This Thanksgiving, I hope we (magicians) all try to be grateful magicians. And after Thanksgiving, let’s try to be grateful every day.

I’m going to start by thanking all of you who regularly read my blog. Thank you all. This applause is for you.

I had a great show last night at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, OH – the next to the last show of the fall tour! I performed in Rickly Chapel, an upstairs auditorium on campus. Normally at Heidelberg, I can’t perform without a train going by every five minutes (and by “by” I mean literally BY – the tain train tracks are 50 feet away), but for some reason there were NO trains during my show. A Thanksgiving Miracle!

One mishap during the show. After visiting someone in the front row near the top of the show, I decided to return to the state by hopping up rather than using the stairs at the side. The result was my back pocket getting caught up on the edge of the stage and me being pulled down violently. It was funny at the time, but I’m sore this morning. I think I injured my butt-bone. Do I have a butt-bone? I can’t wait to see the weirdo traffic that “butt bone” brings to my site.

Here are some photos from the evening. The part where I’m laying on the stage are immediately after my “mishap.” Thanks to Lacey Squire for the photos.

I’ll be performing a special 25 minute set at the Columbus Comedy Festival at Wild Goose Creative this Friday, April 15th. I hope you can come see me, but more importantly, a ton of other hilarious acts. I recently had the chance to meet some of the other comedians performing at the 3-day festival during a photo shoot for Columbus Alive and I’m already looking forward to seeing them.

I performed last night at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD. Emmitsburg is a really neat old town with tons of civil war history – just down the road from Gettysburg. I spent the day touring Gettysburg (I won’t bore you with all of those pictures) and later performed for a fun audience at “The Mount.” Here are some photos!